Korean Splurge

When you’re on a tight budget yet want to treat yourself it can be hard to know where to look. The Poundshop and TK Maxx can be good for bagging bargains, but sometimes it’s nice to try something completely different, and when you’re lacking inspiration there is always that purse friendly option of… EBAY. I say purse friendly, but sometimes you get stuck in this vortex of adding more and more things to your watch list and then thinking ‘SCREW IT I’M HAVING IT ALL’ at particularly dull lunch times at work. That’s what happens to me anyway. When times are hard and money is tight, I know I can always turn to eBay to ease my woes. I only got these things through the post yesterday but was just so excited to share to them I just felt the need to pop them up on the blog straight away…. (Am I really at that point in my life where ‘excited’ is a way to describe my emotions regarding this? Yes.)

Buying Korean cosmetics off eBay

I purchased just 3 things on my latest binge buy which are the Etude House Nail Polish, Holika Holika Strawberry Pore Cover Mouse Starter and Holika Holika Petit BB. If you’re unfamiliar with Korean cosmetics these brands are good places to start, alongside Skin79 and Tony Moly these are my most lusted after brands on eBay and usually the ones I end up buying. Etude House have this habit of drawing me in with their cutesy packaging so there’s always lot’s of cute fodder to choose from. I can’t remember if I’ve actually bought any Holika Holika stuff before but I’ve been eyeing up the Petit BB Cream’s for as long as I can remember, so thought I’d finally give it a sneaky purchase and the Strawberry Pore Cover? Seriously, how could I resist. Altogether I spend around £15 on these 3, which is a lot for me to splurge, but the Strawberry Pore Cover was around £10 on it’s own. I was just feeling so fancy free that lunch time, what can I say?!

Korean Cosmetics Samples

As always when you purchase off these oversea’s shops you always get loads of sample sachets, it’s amazing how much they throw in! I’ve never bought an item without getting a few sachets in the parcel. This is the little selection I got this time and it’s quite varied. I do need to have a look at what some of the things are though as the instructions on the back don’t come in English, but it doesn’t take you long to work out how to use some anyway. I’m particularly intrigued by the Snail BB Cream. Speaking of BB creams I did crack open the Petit BB Cream straight away. Bear in mind this is only a first impression so I can’t talk about the performance of the product or wearability, but I can give you a rough idea of what you get. When I first splodged it out I did think it was a little dark for a Korean BB Cream, usually these things are pale and a little greyish in tone, but this one was like a shade of brown almost in the light? But then when I applied it to my face it immediately became lighter and adapted to my skin tone! I was quite impressed how well it blended in. The consistency is nice but not as nice as I would expect and is a little on the thicker side and not as silky feeling as others can be, but saying that the coverage is very good which is never a bad thing for me. This one is the ‘clearing’ variety so we will see how much it clears this spotty skin of mine in the long run. Set with a powder it does provide a nice even coverage.

The second thing I just had to try straight away was the nail varnish. There’s not much to say about this one though apart from it’s not as concentrated in ‘bits’ as I’d like. On the nails in the image that’s 2 coats of the varnish and it’s still quite sparse. But it is a nice and unique pattern and reminds me of harlequins and clowns and the like. A good tip for when applying polishes like this is to do 2 coats but apply the second when the nails are still tacky, I find a lot more particles transfer and you get a much better result! The nail varnish does dry pretty quickly and is a hard formula, so we will see how long it takes before I pick it off!

And finally, that Strawberry Foam for my face. I don’t know why I even bought this as me and primers never get on. I find no matter which ones I use they always leave my foundation patchy and looking clogged up, then towards the end of the day it separates on my skin. Once again my opinion of this one is a first impression as today is it’s first outing, but so far so good! A little goes a long way with this and a little splodge does cover your whole face. On it’s own it doesn’t really provide much to give you a flawless complexion like the ebay listing said, and it does come across a little tacky. But once it has ‘settled’ and you apply your (in this case) BB cream over it it’s a very nice finish. It’s not as dewy as I expected but as far as primers go for me, this is a good one. Costing about £10 though it is more than I would pay again, but it’s such a unique product I had to try it regardless!! With SPF30 it’s certainly better than going without anything under my regular foundation which has minimal (if any) SPF so I don’t regret buying it at all. As for ‘pore coverage’ I don’t have visible pores anyway, so can’t comment!

Have you bought any magical ebay items lately?

Can you tell me how to use any of my magical little sachets?!

Would you recommend any Korean cosmetics to buy?

Would you consider trying any now?

SO. MANY. QUESTIONS.

If you want to try any of these things or find more just head to eBay and type in Korean cosmetics and usually a heap load come up, so there’s plenty to choose from. Just make sure your settings aren’t UK only.

23 Comments

Ive always wanted to try Korean BB products but have always been weary as I dont know which brands to go for and if I would trust if they are the real deal or not and not just some knock off, any tips on what to look for?

Ive always wanted to try Korean BB products but have always been weary as I dont know which brands to go for and if I would trust if they are the real deal or not and not just some knock off, any tips on what to look for?

I feel the same as rebelrose about this, I just don't know where to start or whether to trust ingredients lists/SPF ratings ect. I'd like to buy cosmetics on ebay (I buy loads of clothes on there) but it would be really helpful if you could do a post all about them and the best brands and your experiences. Sorry if that came across a little pushy ! x

Asian cosmetics always scare me, too, mostly because the ingredients/information often isn't in English!I do love the Etude House nail polish though, and I have a little sample bottle of their Wonder Pore Freshner to try when I get the courage up..

The strawberry foam pore cover looks really interesting. I've wanted to try Korean BB creams for a while but I'm not sure about buying them from eBay :/ Do you have any particular sellers that you recommend? x

Yeah Etude House does seem a bit hit and miss for me, and I guess if any were going to get faked it might be them because of the cute packaging? Maybe we are buying fakes haha. Maybe they're just turning shit, who knows?!

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About Hello Terri Lowe

A UK Lifestyle, Food, Beauty and Music Blog, based in Staffordshire, you can also expect to see reviews of places around the country. Often spotted Manchester or Birmingham at the weekends, you can expect to see a little bit of everything from festivals to food and everything in-between. When not blogging, you can find me having a nice sit down with my cats, Stevie and Kitty, or enjoying a fine cup of coffee. Don’t forget to take a look at my ‘about‘ page if you’re interested in collaborating on any exciting opportunities!